This research outlines the protocol to develop a safe and eco-friendly antimicrobial fabric which can be used to design lab coats. The study answers many key questions in the field of antimicrobial fabric development. For example, how effectively the treated fabric neutralizers pathogens.
The key challenge in antimicrobial fabric development is to choose the right ratios of bioactive compounds without compromising antimicrobial efficacy while maintaining skin friendly finishes. Our antimicrobial fabric provides effective protection against four human pathogens with up to four log reduction, or simply 99.99%effectiveness. It also resists up to 10 wash cycles while retaining an efficacy of up to 90%The major advantage of this method over existing standard techniques is that it provides a simplified and realistic approach to accurately evaluate the efficacy of antimicrobial fabrics.
It better represents the typical scenarios of lab coat usage, such as any accidental microbial spills that must be neutralized within a short time. The application of the technique in the manufacturing of protective coats will reduce the biohazard risk in biosafety labs and nosocomial infections in healthcare setting. We are in the process of testing full length antimicrobial lab coats in Biosafety Level 2 labs.
Our future research questions would focus on the effectiveness of preventing microbial contamination in the long run and continuous usage.
